Encre Noire Pour Elle by Christine Nagel for Lalique 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hello Happy Huffers,

When I saw this bottle and the ad I just hoped I was going to love the frag enough to purchase the lot. The bottle is so simple and the writing exquisite. I was pre disposed to at least like …

Encre Noire Pour Elle by Lalique 2009

EncreNoirePElle FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Sicilian bergamot, Indonesian ambrette, freesia
Heart: Turkish rose, Chinese osmanthus, honey, fruity aromas, Kephalis molecule (amber and tobacco-like aromas)
Base: Haitian vetiver, Texas cedar, musk

The opening is quite a startling ZING of citrus and then everything joins in for a moment before settling. Encre Noire Pour Elle then makes the bergamot sing above the ambrette (musk mallow) and I can’t detect any freesia because the rose comes storming in, a vanillic, boozy, spicy and sweet rose that is soft enough to be prim yet powerful enough to be noticed. No wall flower but a controlled, well bred, dark horse of a fragrance that will surprise you throughout its wear with new and interesting nuances but never being outrageous or intrusive.

There is a fair nod to cleanliness, once the opening decides to sit back and the rose while continuing to scintillate becomes fresh and dark, hinting at deep cool recesses and verandahs in palaces and cloisters while outside all is warm and sunny. As the heart progresses it warms and sweetens more but is never remotely noire. Even as we turn to dry down it’s all sweetness and light woods, not scary, exhilarating or naughty like I would hope a noire could be, not a new argument. The musks really shine as clean white now and it all starts to genteely fade. Pretty soon I am alone with my skin and searching for a new frag to spritz.

Maybe 3 hours on a good day, my skin eats Encre Noire Pour Elle. The sillage is there but soft, the scent bubble after the first hour is small, you have to be close to notice how good Encre Noire Pour Elle smells. This is a seductresses fragrance in my mind because you need to be so close to enjoy it at all. You could wear Encre Noire Pour Elle even in a fragrance phobic workplace and tell them it’s your moisturiser. It’s so reasonably priced though at the discounters you can respritz like crazy.

EncreNoire our lle ImperialParfumPhoto Stolen ImperialParfum

Further reading GrainDeMusc and 1000Fragrances
FragranceNet has 100ml/$36
MyPerfumeSamples starts at $2/ml but I bought $7/5ml great deal!!

Do you ever fall in love with the ad and want the fragrance merely for its magical imagery?

I think we are in Venice today, it is my first time there and I’m writing to you from early January, Australian summer. You are reading this and we are in the middle of European winter. That is an exciting thought,

See you tomorrow,

Portia xx

17 thoughts on “Encre Noire Pour Elle by Christine Nagel for Lalique 2009”

  3. The notes sound fantastic but how disappointing that it died so quickly. I’ve heard a lot about Encre Noire for men as a vetiver counterpoint to Chanel’s Sycomore, so I perked up when I saw you were reviewing the women’s version. Alas, my skin consumes perfume like yours, so I’m not keen on scents that you have to constantly re-spray, no matter how affordable the price. Just out of curiosity, did you smell a lot of vetiver in this one, Portia?

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        • You totally got it Kafka,
          I am loving Guerlain’s Vetiver and am thinking heavily about getting a bottle of Red Vetiver by Montale, now I’m going to think about how much Vetiver I got from Encre Noire Femme for a while because it’s bugging the shit out of me that I can’t remember.
          Portia xx

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      • Honey, you’re on vacation! You’re not supposed to remember details like that! 😉 I shouldn’t have brought it up because I totally forgot that you wrote this before you left. I just got so excited at seeing the name “Encre Noire” because I’ve been really curious about that one for a while. The men’s version came up continuously when I was writing my review for Chanel’s Sycomore and a number of people on Fragrantica, etc., said the Lalique was way better than the Chanel. (But a fellow perfume blogger who has both said, no way, it was nowhere as good as the Chanel, and that it was a bit synthetic too.)

        Unfortunately, the Chanel was a weeeeeeeeee bit too much vetiver, even for me, so your review made me think that Encre Noire Women’s version may be something to hunt down. Well, until I got to your comments on the longevity….. lol. I’m sure you must have tried Sycomore in all your perfume adventures. But, if by some weird chance you haven’t, then you really should, before you go ahead and buy the Montale. It’s got such smoothness, elegance and sophistication that I think you’d love it, especially if you adored the Guerlain Vetiver. This one is earthier and smokier, imo. Utterly fab!

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        • I find the CHANEL. Exclusives a bit too quiet on my skin, I get the CHANEL. Base from the beginning to end and very little variation, I think mi may be nose blind to them on me.
          Coramandel and 31 Rue Cambon are the best for me so far
          Portia xx

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  5. I liked Annick Goutal’s Nuit Étoilée from the first time I saw a picture of that dark blue bottle. Luckily for me I liked the perfume as well when I tried it later.

    The only time I tried Encre Noire Pour Elle it disappeared from my skin within an hour andI do not remember much about it.

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